Road surface friction based predictive driving for computer assisted or autonomous driving vehicles

ABSTRACT

Embodiments include apparatuses, methods, and systems for computer assisted or autonomous driving (CA/AD). An apparatus for CA/AD may include a sensor interface, a communication interface, and a driving strategy unit. The sensor interface may receive sensor data indicative of friction between a road surface of a current location of a CA/AD vehicle and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/AD vehicle. The communication interface may receive, from an external road surface condition data source, data indicative of friction for a surface of a road section ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle. The driving strategy unit may determine, based at least in part on the sensor data and the data received from the external road surface condition data source, a driving strategy for the CA/AD vehicle beyond the current location of the CA/AD vehicle. Other embodiments may also be described and claimed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/847,591, filed Dec. 19, 2017 entitled “ROAD SURFACE FRICTION BASEDPREDICTIVE DRIVING FOR. COMPUTER ASSISTED OR AUTONOMOUS DRIVINGVEHICLES”, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the technicalfields of vehicles, and more particularly to computer assisted orautonomous driving vehicles.

BACKGROUND

The background description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwiseindicated herein, the materials described in this section are not priorart to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be priorart by inclusion in this section.

Road driving condition may change frequently due to natural andunnatural causes, which may post challenges for computer assisted orautonomous driving (CA/AD) vehicles. Existing electronic stabilityprograms (ESP) may cope with the changes to a certain degree bycontinuously adjust braking to compensate for slippery road conditions.However, due to its passive nature, ESP techniques may not be able tohandle abrupt changes in road driving conditions. In such situations, aCA/AD vehicle may have to slow down rapidly, stop, or lose control,hence reducing the efficiency and increasing the risk for the CA/ADvehicle. Also, current techniques tend to be limited in employment ofsensor data collected for the current location of the vehicle, andgenerally limited to handling weather based driving condition changes,e.g., ice in a shadow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment for a computer assisted orautonomous driving (CA/AD) vehicle to communicate with an external roadsurface condition data source for data indicative of friction for asurface of a road section ahead of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates multiple examples of a road section ahead of a CA/ADvehicle, where a different road section may have a different frictionfor a surface of the road section, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example CA/AD vehicle having a vehicle onboardunit (OBU) including a sensor interface, a communication interface tocommunicate with an external road surface condition data source, and adriving strategy unit, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process for CA/AD driving, performed by anexternal road surface condition data source, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates example data indicative of friction for a surface ofa road section generated by an external road surface condition datasource, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer device suitable for use topractice various aspects of the present disclosure, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a storage medium having instructions for practicingmethods described with references to FIGS. 1-6, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Road driving conditions may change frequently or abruptly due to naturaland unnatural causes. Current techniques for a computer assisted orautonomous driving (CA/AD) vehicle may have limited ability to handlesuch changing road driving conditions. For examples, data from LiDAR orother sensors integrated on a CA/AD vehicle may be limited to a currentlocation of the vehicle. Weather information may be limited to a largearea with insufficient local information about the road drivingconditions. It may be difficult to handle abrupt road driving conditionchanges, e.g., ice in a shadow, standing water, oil spill, sands, orother road condition changes.

When road driving condition changes, friction between a road surface ofa current location of a CA/AD vehicle and one or more surfaces of one ormore tires of the CA/AD vehicle may change as well. For example, ice ina shadow or oil spill on a road surface may cause reduced frictionbetween the road surface and one or more surfaces of one or more tiresof a CA/AD vehicle. Embodiments herein may present techniques for roadsurface friction based predictive driving for a CA/AD vehicle to developa driving strategy for a road section beyond a current location of theCA/AD vehicle, to avoid the need for abrupt driving strategy changes.

In embodiments, an external road surface condition data source maycollect data about friction between a road surface and one or moresurfaces of one or more tires of a CA/AD vehicle experienced by multiplevehicles over a period of time at various locations within the roadsection. The external road surface condition data source may process thecollected data and generate data indicative of the friction for thesurface of the road section, and may communicate such generated data toa CA/AD vehicle before the CA/AD vehicle reaches the road section. ACA/AD vehicle may receive from an external road surface condition datasource, data indicative of friction for a surface of a road sectionahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle. The CA/AD vehiclemay determine a driving strategy for the CA/AD vehicle beyond thecurrent location of the CA/AD vehicle based at least in part on the datareceived from the external road surface condition data source.

In embodiments, an apparatus for CA/AD may include a sensor interface, acommunication interface, and a driving strategy unit coupled to thesensor interface and the communication interface. The sensor interfacemay receive, from one or more sensors disposed on a CA/AD vehicle,sensor data indicative of friction between a road surface of a currentlocation of the CA/AD vehicle and one or more surfaces of one or moretires of the CA/AD vehicle. The communication interface may receive,from an external road surface condition data source via a wirelesstechnology, data indicative of friction for a surface of a road sectionahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle. Furthermore, thedriving strategy unit may determine, based at least in part on thesensor data and the data received from the external road surfacecondition data source, a driving strategy for the CA/AD vehicle beyondthe current location of the CA/AD vehicle.

In embodiments, a method for CA/AD may be performed by a road surfacecondition data source. The method may include receiving, via a wirelesstechnology, an indication of friction between a road surface of a firstlocation where a first CA/AD vehicle is in and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the first CA/AD vehicle. The method may includeprocessing the received indication of the friction at the first locationfor the first CA/AD vehicle to generate an indication of a friction fora surface of the road section the first location is located. The methodmay further include communicating to a second CA/AD vehicle at a secondlocation the generated indication of the friction for the surface of theroad section, wherein the second location is separated from the roadsection by a distance along a road driving direction.

In embodiments, one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediacomprising instructions that cause a CA/AD system in a CA/AD vehicle, inresponse to execution of the instructions by the CA/AD system, toobtain, from one or more sensors disposed on the CA/AD vehicle, sensordata indicative of friction between a road surface of a current locationof the CA/AD vehicle and one or more surfaces of one or more tires ofthe CA/AD vehicle. In addition, the instructions may cause the CA/ADsystem, in response to execution of the instructions by the CA/ADsystem, to obtain, from an external road surface condition data sourcevia a wireless technology, data indicative of friction for a surface ofa road section ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle.Furthermore, the instructions may cause the CA/AD system, in response toexecution of the instructions by the CA/AD system, to determine, basedat least in part on the sensor data and the data received from theexternal road surface condition data source, a driving strategy for theCA/AD vehicle beyond the current location of the CA/AD vehicle.

In the description to follow, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings that form a part hereof wherein like numerals designate likeparts throughout, and in which is shown by way of illustrationembodiments that may be practiced. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may bemade without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

As used herein, the term semi-autonomous driving is synonymous withcomputer-assisted driving. The term does not mean exactly 50% of thedriving functions are automated. The percentage of automated drivingfunctions may vary between 0% and 100%. In addition, it will beappreciated that the hardware, circuitry and/or software implementingthe semi-autonomous driving may temporarily provide no automation, or100% automation, such as in response to an emergency situation.

Operations of various methods may be described as multiple discreteactions or operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful inunderstanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order ofdescription should not be construed as to imply that these operationsare necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may notbe performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may beperformed in a different order than the described embodiments. Variousadditional operations may be performed and/or described operations maybe omitted, split or combined in additional embodiments.

For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “A or B” and “Aand/or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the presentdisclosure, the phrase “A, B, and/or C” means (A), (B), (C), (A and B),(A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” or “inembodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same ordifferent embodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,”“having,” and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, are synonymous.

As used hereinafter, including the claims, the term “unit,” “module,” or“routine” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared,dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) thatexecute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logiccircuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the describedfunctionality.

Where the disclosure recites “a” or “a first” element or the equivalentthereof, such disclosure includes one or more such elements, neitherrequiring nor excluding two or more such elements. Further, ordinalindicators (e.g., first, second or third) for identified elements areused to distinguish between the elements, and do not indicate or imply arequired or limited number of such elements, nor do they indicate aparticular position or order of such elements unless otherwisespecifically stated.

The terms “coupled with” and “coupled to” and the like may be usedherein. “Coupled” may mean one or more of the following. “Coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electricalcontact. However, “coupled” may also mean that two or more elementsindirectly contact each other, but yet still cooperate or interact witheach other, and may mean that one or more other elements are coupled orconnected between the elements that are said to be coupled with eachother. By way of example and not limitation, “coupled” may mean two ormore elements or devices are coupled by electrical connections on aprinted circuit board such as a motherboard, for example. By way ofexample and not limitation, “coupled” may mean two or moreelements/devices cooperate and/or interact through one or more networklinkages such as wired and/or wireless networks. By way of example andnot limitation, a computing apparatus may include two or more computingdevices “coupled” on a motherboard or by one or more network linkages.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD), (for example, a field-programmablegate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD(CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or aprogrammable System on Chip (SoC)), digital signal processors (DSPs),etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. Insome embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software orfirmware programs to provide at least some of the describedfunctionality.

As used herein, the term “processor circuitry” may refer to, is part of,or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations; recording, storing,and/or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuitry” mayrefer to one or more application processors, one or more basebandprocessors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-coreprocessor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-coreprocessor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwiseoperating computer-executable instructions, such as program code,software modules, and/or functional processes.

As used herein, the term “interface” or “interface circuitry” may referto, is part of, or includes circuitry providing for the exchange ofinformation between two or more components or devices. The term“interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces (forexample, buses, input/output (I/O) interfaces, peripheral componentinterfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like).

As used herein, the term “computer device” may describe any physicalhardware device capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out asequence of arithmetic or logical operations, equipped to record/storedata on a machine readable medium, and transmit and receive data fromone or more other devices in a communications network. A computer devicemay be considered synonymous to, and may hereafter be occasionallyreferred to, as a computer, computing platform, computing device, etc.The term “computer system” may include any type interconnectedelectronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof.Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer tovarious components of a computer that are communicatively coupled withone another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systemsthat are communicatively coupled with one another and configured toshare computing and/or networking resources. Examples of “computerdevices”, “computer systems”, etc. may include cellular phones or smartphones, feature phones, tablet personal computers, wearable computingdevices, an autonomous sensors, laptop computers, desktop personalcomputers, video game consoles, digital media players, handheldmessaging devices, personal data assistants, an electronic book readers,augmented reality devices, server computer devices (e.g., stand-alone,rack-mounted, blade, etc.), cloud computing services/systems, networkelements, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management Systems (EEMSs),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), vehicle-embedded computerdevices (VECDs), autonomous or semi-autonomous driving vehicle(hereinafter, simply ADV) systems, in-vehicle navigation systems,electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems,microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS),networked or “smart” appliances, machine-type communications (MTC)devices, machine-to-machine (M2M), Internet of Things (IoT) devices,and/or any other like electronic devices. Moreover, the term“vehicle-embedded computer device” may refer to any computer deviceand/or computer system physically mounted on, built in, or otherwiseembedded in a vehicle.

As used herein, the term “network element” may be considered synonymousto and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware,network equipment, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio networkcontroller, radio access network device, gateway, server, and/or anyother like device. The term “network element” may describe a physicalcomputing device of a wired or wireless communication network and beconfigured to host a virtual machine. Furthermore, the term “networkelement” may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionsfor data and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or moreusers. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/orreferred to as a “base station.” As used herein, the term “base station”may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a node B, anenhanced or evolved node B (eNB), next generation nodeB (gNB), basetransceiver station (BTS), access point (AP), roadside unit (RSU), etc.,and may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functionsfor data and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or moreusers. As used herein, the terms “vehicle-to-vehicle” and “V2V” mayrefer to any communication involving a vehicle as a source ordestination of a message. Additionally, the terms “vehicle-to-vehicle”and “V2V” as used herein may also encompass or be equivalent tovehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, vehicle-to-network (V2N)communications, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communications, or V2Xcommunications.

As used herein, the term “channel” may refer to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” mayrefer to a connection between two devices through a Radio AccessTechnology (RAT) for the purpose of transmitting and receivinginformation.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 for a CA/AD vehicle 101 tocommunicate with an external road surface condition data source, e.g., aroadside unit (RSU) 103 or a cloud 105, for data indicative of frictionfor a surface of a road section 104 ahead of a current location 102 ofthe CA/AD vehicle 101, in accordance with various embodiments. Forclarity, features of the environment 100, the CA/AD vehicle 101, the RSU103, and the cloud 105 may be described below as an example forunderstanding an example environment for a CA/AD vehicle to communicatewith an external road surface condition data source for data indicativeof friction for a surface of a road section ahead of the currentlocation. It is to be understood that there may be more or fewercomponents included in the environment 100, the CA/AD vehicle 101, theRSU 103, and the cloud 105. Further, it is to be understood that one ormore of the devices and components within the environment 100, the CA/ADvehicle 101, the RSU 103, and the cloud 105 may include additionaland/or varying features from the description below, and may include anydevices and components that one having ordinary skill in the art wouldconsider and/or refer to as the devices and components of an environmentfor a CA/AD vehicle to communicate with an external road surfacecondition data source for data indicative of friction for a surface of aroad section ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle.

In embodiments, the environment 100 may be a two dimensional (2D)freeway/highway/roadway environment. The environment 100 may include theCA/AD vehicle 101, the RSU 103, and the cloud 105. The cloud 105 mayinclude a cloud server 151, which may be an application server. The RSU103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151 may be referred to as anexternal road surface condition data source for the CA/AD vehicle 101.The communication between an external road surface condition datasource, e.g., the RSU 103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151, andthe CA/AD vehicle 101 may be a part of a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)communications. In the description below, the RSU 103 may be used as anexample of an external road surface condition data source. Operationsperformed by the RSU 103 may be similarly performed in the cloud 105,for example, by the cloud server 151, or any other external road surfacecondition data source.

In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 101 may communicate with an externalroad surface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103, the cloud 105, orthe cloud server 151, via a wireless technology 131. The wirelesstechnology 131 may include a selected one of dedicated short rangecommunications (DSRC) technology, Bluetooth technology, wirelessfidelity (WiFi) technology, wireless local network (WLAN), cellularwireless network technology, short range radio technology, or any otherwireless technology. In addition, the RSU 103 may communicate with thecloud 105 by a link 132, which may be a wireless or wired connection.

In embodiments, the road section 104 may be ahead of the currentlocation 102 of the CA/AD vehicle 101, and separated by a distance 121.The distance 121 may be within a range of about 0.5 meter to about 1000meters. There may be multiple CA/AD vehicles, e.g., a CA/AD vehicle 141,a CA/AD vehicle 143, or a CA/AD vehicle 145, in the road section 104.Hence, the CA/AD vehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143, or the CA/ADvehicle 145 may be ahead of the current location 102 of the CA/ADvehicle 101 within a range of about 0.5 meter to about 1000 meters. Insome other embodiments, the distance 121 may be larger than 1000 metersor shorter than 0.5 meter.

In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 101 may include one or more sensors,e.g., a sensor 111, one or more tires, e.g., a tire 113, and a vehicleonboard unit (OBU) 115 including a communication interface 117 tocommunicate with an external road surface condition data source, e.g.,the RSU 103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151. The sensor 111 maygenerate sensor data, e.g., data 135, indicative of friction between aroad surface of the current location 102 of the CA/AD vehicle 101 and asurface of the tire 113. In embodiments, there may be one or moresurfaces of one or more tires for the CA/AD vehicle 101. Thecommunication interface 117 may communicate the data 135 to an externalroad surface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105.

In embodiments, an external road surface condition data source, e.g.,the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, may communicate with the CA/AD vehicle101, the CA/AD vehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143, or the CA/AD vehicle145 through the wireless technology 131. For example, the RSU 103 mayreceive data 135 from the CA/AD vehicle 101, data 142 from the CA/ADvehicle 141, data 144 from the CA/AD vehicle 143, and data 146 from theCA/AD vehicle 145. Data 142, data 144, and data 146 may be indicative offriction between a road surface of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143, and the CA/AD vehicle 145,respectively, and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of thecorresponding vehicle. Together, data 142, data 144, and data 146 mayindicate friction of the road section 104 experienced by multiplevehicles, e.g., the CA/AD vehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143, the CA/ADvehicle 145, reported to the external road surface condition datasource, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, over a period of time.

In some embodiments, an external road surface condition data source,e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, may process received data 142, data144, and data 146 to generate data 133 indicative of friction for asurface of the road section 104 ahead of the current location 102 of theCA/AD vehicle 101. Data 133 may be calculated based on an average ofdata 142, data 144, and data 146 reported to the external road surfacecondition data source by the CA/AD vehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143,the CA/AD vehicle 145, over a period of time. Additionally andalternatively, data 133 may be calculated as a weighted average, or someother statistics value based on data 142, data 144, and data 146.Individual data, e.g., data 142, data 144, and data 146 may representfrictions between individual locations experienced by a single vehicle,e.g., the CA/AD vehicle 141, the CA/AD vehicle 143, the CA/AD vehicle145, within the road section 104. Data 133 generated based on data 142,data 144, and data 146 may be an indication of friction for a surface ofthe entire road section 104. In some embodiments, data 133 may include acollection of data about frictions experienced at multiple points of theentire road section 104, where the multiple points may be distributedacross the entire road surface, across the entire width of multiplelanes of the road section 104. In some embodiments, data 133 may begenerated based on data collected, e.g., data 142, data 144, and data146, over a short period of time, e.g., within 5 minutes or 1 hour, whenthere is a large number of vehicles providing such data. In some otherembodiments, there may not be enough vehicles to provide data to theexternal road surface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or thecloud 105, and data 133 may be generate based on some historical datareceived over a long period of time, such as seasonal data for the roadsection 104 collected over a year ago or over the years.

In some embodiments, an external road surface condition data source,e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, may also generate a confidence levelabout the data 133, which may be an indication of the friction for thesurface of the road section 104. The confidence level may depend on anumber of data received by the external road surface condition datasource, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, and a length of the periodof time the number of data received. The more data received over ashorter period of time, a higher confidence level may be generated forthe data 133 as an indication of the friction for the surface of theroad section 104. More details of the generation of the data 133 and theconfidence level may be illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

In some embodiments, an external road surface condition data source,e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, may also generate a driving policyfor the road section 104 based on data 133. For example, the RSU 103 mayinstruct the CA/AD vehicle 101 to adjust a position relative to adriving lane, a speed, an inter-vehicle distance of the CA/AD vehicle101 with another vehicle, path choice within or across lanes, change atrajectory of the CA/AD vehicle 101. Such a driving policy may serve asa guideline for the CA/AD vehicle 101 when the CA/AD vehicle 101 maydetermine its driving strategy beyond the current location 102.

In some embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 101 may be initially positionedaround a center of a lane for better separation from surroundingvehicles. The RSU 103 may instruct the CA/AD vehicle 101 to adjust aposition relative to a driving lane, to move to one side or another ofthe lane to increase the traction; make a sharper turn to load one sideof the CA/AD vehicle 101 to increase traction on the outer side of theturn; use active suspension to tilt the CA/AD vehicle 101 in order tobias weight to one side of the CA/AD vehicle 101 that has access tobetter road condition; alter trajectory on uneven gravel road toeventually level the road surface; alter lane positions of the CA/ADvehicle 101 on a road with snow/ice/debris to help clear the road,instead of forming common ruts or tracks. The RSU 103 may instruct theCA/AD vehicle 101 to position itself relative to other vehiclecategories. For example, a heavier vehicle may splash water off the roadfor following lighter vehicles that are more susceptible tohydroplaning. If the CA/AD vehicle 101 is a heavy vehicle, the RSU 103may instruct the CA/AD vehicle 101 to take a lane so that any watersplashed off may not affect other lighter vehicles.

In some embodiments, an external road surface condition data source,e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105, may also generate a report aboutroad conditions based on data 133, data 142, data 144, and data 146. Forexample, the RSU 103 may determine that the road surface of the roadsection 104 may be slippery since data 133 may indicate a smallfriction, and may notify an authority of maintenance conditions. The RSU103 may notify such road conditions by sending data 137 to the cloud 105over the link 132.

Furthermore, in embodiments, the RSU 103 may communicate data 133 to theCA/AD vehicle 101. The data 133 may be indicative of friction for asurface of a road section 104 ahead of the current location 102 of theCA/AD vehicle 101. In addition, the RSU 103 may also communicate to theCA/AD vehicle 101 a confidence level about data 133, or a driving policyfor the CA/AD vehicle 101 beyond the current location 102. The RSU 103may transmit data 133, a confidence level about the data 133, or adriving policy to the CA/AD vehicle 101 by broadcast.

In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 101 may be any type of vehicle, suchas trucks, buses, motorcycles, boats or motorboats, and/or any othermotorized devices. The CA/AD vehicle 101 may be any type of motorizedvehicle or device used for transportation of people or goods, which maybe equipped with controls used for driving, parking, passenger comfortand/or safety, etc. The terms “motor”, “motorized”, etc., as used hereinmay refer to devices that convert one form of energy into mechanicalenergy, and may include internal combustion engines (ICE), compressioncombustion engines (CCE), electric motors, and hybrids (e.g., includingan ICE/CCE and electric motor(s)).

In embodiments, the RSU 103 may be one or more hardware computer devicesconfigured to provide wireless communication services to mobile devices(for example, OBU 115 in the CA/AD vehicle 101 or some other suitabledevice) within a coverage area or cell associated with the RSU 103. TheRSU 103 may include a transmitter/receiver (or alternatively, atransceiver) connected to one or more antennas, one or more memorydevices, one or more processors, one or more network interfacecontrollers, and/or other like components. The one or moretransmitters/receivers may be configured to transmit/receive datasignals to/from one or more mobile devices via a link. Furthermore, oneor more network interface controllers may be configured totransmit/receive with various network elements (e.g., one or moreservers within a core network, etc.) over another backhaul connection(not shown).

As an example, the RSU 103 may be a base station associated with acellular network (e.g., an eNB in an LTE network, a gNB in a new radioaccess technology (NR) network, a WiMAX base station, etc.), a remoteradio head, a relay radio device, a small cell base station (e.g., afemtocell, picocell, home evolved nodeB (HeNB), and the like), or otherlike network element. In addition, the RSU 103 may be a road embeddedreflector, a smart street or traffic light, a road side tag, or astationary user equipment (UE) type RSU.

In embodiments, the cloud 105 may represent the Internet, one or morecellular networks, a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN) including proprietary and/or enterprise networks, transfer controlprotocol (TCP)/internet protocol (IP)-based network, or combinationsthereof. In such embodiments, the cloud 105 may be associated withnetwork operator who owns or controls equipment and other elementsnecessary to provide network-related services, such as one or more basestations or access points (e.g., the RSU 103), one or more servers forrouting digital data or telephone calls (for example, a core network orbackbone network), etc. Implementations, components, and protocols usedto communicate via such services may be those known in the art and areomitted herein for the sake of brevity.

In some embodiments, the cloud 105 may be a system of computer devices(e.g., servers, storage devices, applications, etc. within or associatedwith a data center or data warehouse) that provides access to a pool ofcomputing resources. The term “computing resource” may refer to aphysical or virtual component within a computing environment and/orwithin a particular computer device, such as memory space, processortime, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or networksockets, and the like. In these embodiments, the cloud 105 may be aprivate cloud, which offers cloud services to a single organization; apublic cloud, which provides computing resources to the general publicand shares computing resources across all customers/users; or a hybridcloud or virtual private cloud, which uses a portion of resources toprovide public cloud services while using other dedicated resources toprovide private cloud services. For example, the hybrid cloud mayinclude a private cloud service that also utilizes one or more publiccloud services for certain applications or users, such as providingobtaining data from various data stores or data sources. In embodiments,a common cloud management platform (e.g., implemented as various virtualmachines and applications hosted across the cloud 105 and databasesystems) may coordinate the delivery of data to the OBU 115 of the CA/ADvehicle 101. Implementations, components, and protocols used tocommunicate via such services may be those known in the art and areomitted herein for the sake of brevity.

FIG. 2 illustrates multiple examples of a road section ahead of a CA/ADvehicle, e.g., a road section 210 ahead of a CA/AD vehicle 203, a roadsection 220 ahead of a CA/AD vehicle 205, where a different road sectionmay have a different friction for a surface of the road section, inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the road section210 may include a CA/AD vehicle 201, the road section 220 may includethe CA/AD vehicle 203. The CA/AD vehicle 201 within the road section 210ahead of the CA/AD vehicle 203 may be similar to the CA/AD vehicle 141within the road section 104 ahead of the CA/AD vehicle 101. The CA/ADvehicle 203 within the road section 220 ahead of the CA/AD vehicle 205may be similar to the CA/AD vehicle 141 within the road section 104ahead of the CA/AD vehicle 101.

In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 201 may receive from one or moresensors disposed on the CA/AD vehicle 201, sensor data indicative offriction between a road surface of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle 201 and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/ADvehicle 201. The CA/AD vehicle 201 may communicate, to an external roadsurface condition data source 211, the sensor data. On the other hand,the external road surface condition data source 211 may process thereceived sensor data from the CA/AD vehicle 201 to generate anindication of a friction for a surface of the road section 210. Forexample, the external road surface condition data source 211 may detectthe surface of the road section 210 may have a low friction, which maybe caused by ice in shadow. The external road surface condition datasource 211 may further communicate to the CA/AD vehicle 203 theindication of the friction for the surface of the road section 210. TheCA/AD vehicle 203 may determine a driving strategy beyond its currentlocation for an icy road condition for the road section 210.

Similarly, in embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 203 may receive from one ormore sensors disposed on the CA/AD vehicle 203, sensor data indicativeof friction between a road surface of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle 203 and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/ADvehicle 203. The CA/AD vehicle 203 may communicate, to an external roadsurface condition data source 213, the sensor data. On the other hand,the external road surface condition data source 213 may process thereceived sensor data from the CA/AD vehicle 203 to generate anindication of a friction for a surface of the road section 220. Forexample, the external road surface condition data source 213 may detectthe surface of the road section 220 may have a normal friction. Theexternal road surface condition data source 213 may further communicateto the CA/AD vehicle 205 the indication of the friction for the surfaceof the road section 220. The CA/AD vehicle 205 may determine a drivingstrategy beyond its current location for a normal road condition for theroad section 220.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example CA/AD vehicle 300 having a vehicle onboardunit (OBU) 310 including a sensor interface 302, a communicationinterface 304 to communicate with an external road surface conditiondata source, and a driving strategy unit 306, in accordance with variousembodiments. In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 300 and the OBU 310 maybe an example to the CA/AD vehicle 101 and the OBU 115 shown in FIG. 1.

In embodiments, the CA/AD vehicle 300 may include the OBU 310, one ormore sensors 308, one or more transmitters or receivers 309, and one ormore driving elements 314. In detail, the OBU 310 may include the sensorinterface 302, the communication interface 304, the driving strategyunit 306, and a main controller 301. The main controller 301 maycoordinate or perform operations for the various components, e.g., thesensor interface 302, the communication interface 304, the drivingstrategy unit 306. The one or more sensors 308 may be an example of thesensor 111, and the one or more driving elements 314 may include a tiresimilar to the tire 113, as shown in FIG. 1. There may be othercomponents, e.g., storage included in the OBU 310, not shown.

In embodiments, the sensors 308 may be operated continuously to collectsensor data 305 indicative of friction between a road surface of acurrent location of the CA/AD vehicle 300 and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the CA/AD vehicle 300. The sensors 308 may includeother kinds of sensors, e.g., camera, GPS, radar, LiDAR, and so forth.

In embodiments, the transmitters or receivers 309 may perform wirelesscommunications with an external road surface condition data source,e.g., the RSU 103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151, as shown inFIG. 1. The transmitters or receivers 309 may be transmitters orreceivers in a wireless technology, such as dedicated short rangecommunications (DSRC) technology, Bluetooth technology, wirelessfidelity (WiFi) technology, wireless local network (WLAN), cellularwireless network technology, short range radio technology, or any otherwireless technology.

In embodiments, the OBU 310 may include the sensor interface 302, whichmay be used to receive from the sensors 308 the sensor data 305. Theremay be multiple such sensor data 305 from each individual sensordetecting a friction for a surface of a tire of the CA/AD vehicle 300.

In embodiments, the OBU 310 may include the communication interface 304to receive, from an external road surface condition data source, e.g.,the RSU 103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151, as shown in FIG. 1,data indicative of friction for a surface of a road section ahead of thecurrent location of the CA/AD vehicle 300. In addition, thecommunication interface 304 may receive a confidence level about thedata indicative of the friction for the surface of the road sectionahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle, a driving policy forthe CA/AD vehicle 300 beyond the current location, or other system data.

For example, the communication interface 304 may receive various datapackets and/or data streams, navigation signaling/data (e.g., globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS), global positioning system (GPS),etc.), and/or the like. In embodiments, the communication interface 304may also include, or operate in conjunction with communicationscircuitry and/or input/output (I/O) interface circuitry in order toobtain the data for the various sources. For example, the communicationinterface 304 may include an interface an input/output (I/O) or businterface, such as a I² bus, an Integrated Drive Electronic (IDE) bus, aSerial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) bus, a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a Near FieldCommunication (NFC) interface, a Bluetooth® interface, WiFi, and soforth.

In embodiments, the OBU 310 may include the driving strategy unit 306coupled to the sensor interface 302 and the communication interface 304to determine, based at least in part on the sensor data and the datareceived from the external road surface condition data source, a drivingstrategy for the CA/AD vehicle 300 beyond the current location of theCA/AD vehicle. In addition, the driving strategy unit 306 may determinea driving strategy based on a confidence level about the data indicativeof the friction for the surface of the road section ahead of the currentlocation of the CA/AD vehicle 300, or a driving policy received.

For example, the driving strategy unit 306 may determine an adjustmentof a position of the CA/AD vehicle 300 relative to a driving lane, anadjustment of a speed of the CA/AD vehicle 300, an adjustment of aninter-vehicle distance of the CA/AD vehicle 300 with another vehicle, oran alteration of a trajectory of the CA/AD vehicle 300.

In embodiments, the driving strategy unit 306 may determine thatperformance of the driving strategy by the CA/AD vehicle 300 is tocommence immediately, beginning from the current location. Additionallyand alternatively, the driving strategy unit 306 may determine thatcommencement of performance of the driving strategy by the CA/AD vehicle300 is to be delayed until the CA/AD vehicle 300 is at less than adistance before the road section ahead of the current location of theCA/AD vehicle 300. Furthermore, the driving strategy unit 306 maydetermine that performance of the driving strategy by the CA/AD vehicle300 is to commence when the CA/AD vehicle 300 is on the road sectionahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle 300.

In embodiments, the driving strategy unit 306 may determine whether anabnormal condition of the CA/AD vehicle 300 has occurred, based at leastin part on the sensor data and the data received from the external roadsurface condition data source. For example, the sensor data 305 mayindicate a low friction between a road surface of a current location ofthe CA/AD vehicle 300 and one or more surfaces of one or more tires ofthe CA/AD vehicle 300. On the other hand, the data received from theexternal road surface condition data source may indicate the frictionfor the road surface at the road section may be normal. In such a case,the driving strategy unit 306 may determine there may be an abnormalcondition for one or more tires of the CA/AD vehicle occurred. Forexample, one or more tires may have an incorrect inflation level. As aresult, the driving strategy unit 306 may determine to adjust aninflation level of the one or more tires.

In embodiments, the OBU 310 may be any type of computer device that ismounted on, built into, or otherwise embedded in a vehicle and iscapable of performing operations. In some embodiments, the OBU 310 maybe a computer device used to control one or more systems of the CA/ADvehicle 300, such as an ECU, ECM, embedded system, microcontroller,control module, EMS, OBD devices, DME, MDTs, etc. The OBU 310 mayinclude one or more processors (having one or more processor cores andoptionally, one or more hardware accelerators), memory devices,communication devices, etc. that may be configured to carry out variousfunctions according to the various embodiments discussed here. Forexample, the OBU 310 may be the computer device 600 shown in FIG. 6, andmay execute instructions stored in a computer-readable medium, e.g., thecomputer-readable medium 702 as shown in FIG. 7, or may bepre-configured with the logic (e.g., with appropriate bit streams, logicblocks, etc.).

In embodiments, the OBU 310, including the main controller 301, may beimplemented in hardware, e.g., ASIC, or programmable combinational logiccircuit (e.g., (FPGA)), or software (to be executed by a processor andmemory arrangement), or combination thereof. For softwareimplementations, in some embodiments, the OBU 310 may perform functionsoperated by the main controller 301.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process 400 for CA/AD driving, performedby an external road surface condition data source, in accordance withvarious embodiments. In embodiments, the process 400 may be a processperformed by an external road surface condition data source, e.g., theRSU 103, the cloud 105, or the cloud server 151, as shown in FIG. 1.

The process 400 may start at an interaction 401. During the interaction401, an indication of friction between a road surface of a firstlocation where a first CA/AD vehicle is in and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the first CA/AD vehicle may be received, where thefirst location may be located in a road section. For example, at theinteraction 401, data 142 may be received as an indication of frictionbetween a road surface of a first location where the vehicle 141 is inand one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/AD vehicle 141,where the CA/AD vehicle 141 may be located in the road section 104.

During an interaction 403, the received indication of the friction atthe first location for the first CA/AD vehicle may be processed togenerate an indication of a friction for a surface of the road section.For example, at the interaction 403, the received data 142 may beprocessed to generate data 133 as an indication of a friction for asurface of the road section 104. When data 142 is received, itrepresents frication at one location of the road section 104. After theprocessing, data 133 is generated as an indication of a friction for asurface of the road section 104, instead of one location.

During an interaction 405, the generated indication of the friction forthe surface of the road section may be communicated to a second CA/ADvehicle at a second location, where the second location is separatedfrom the road section by a distance along a road driving direction. Forexample, at the interaction 405, data 133, which may be the generatedindication of the friction for the surface of the road section 104, maybe communicated to the CA/AD vehicle 101 at a second location, where theCA/AD vehicle 101 may be separated from the road section 104 by thedistance 121.

FIG. 5 illustrates example data, e.g., data 511, data 513, data 515,data 517, and data 519, indicative of friction for a surface of a roadsection, generated by an external road surface condition data source, inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, data 511, data 513,data 515, data 517, and data 519 may be similar to data 133 generated byan external road surface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or thecloud 105, and communicated to the CA/AD vehicle 101. Data 133 may beindicative of friction for a surface of a road section, e.g., the roadsection 104, ahead of the current location 102 of the CA/AD vehicle 101.

In embodiments, at time period 1, there may be six CA/AD vehicles goingthrough the road section 104. At time period 2, there may be six CA/ADvehicles, including a CA/AD vehicle 512, going through the road section104. At time period 3, there may be two CA/AD vehicles, a CA/AD vehicle514 and a CA/AD vehicle 516, going through the road section 104. At timeperiod 4, there may be two CA/AD vehicles, a CA/AD vehicle 518 and aCA/AD vehicle 520, going through the road section 104. Each CA/ADvehicle may report sensor data indicative of friction between a roadsurface of a current location of the CA/AD vehicle and one or moresurfaces of one or more tires of the CA/AD vehicle to an external roadsurface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105.

In embodiments, before entering the road section 104 at time period 2,the CA/AD vehicle 512 may receive data 511 from an external road surfacecondition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105. Data 511 maybe calculated by the external road surface condition data source, e.g.,the RSU 103, based on sensor data received from six vehicles drivingthrough the road section 104 within a time window 501. Data 511 may havea confidence level 521, which may be high.

Similarly, before entering the road section 104 at time period 3, thevehicle 514 may receive data 513 from an external road surface conditiondata source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105. Data 513 may becalculated by the external road surface condition data source, e.g., theRSU 103 or the cloud 105, based on sensor data received from sixvehicles driving through the road section 104 within a time window 503.Data 513 may have a confidence level 523, which may be high.

In addition, before entering the road section 104 at time period 3, thevehicle 516 may receive data 515 from an external road surface conditiondata source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105. Data 515 may becalculated by the external road surface condition data source, e.g., theRSU 103 or the cloud 105, based on sensor data received from fourvehicles driving through the road section 104 within a time window 505.Data 515 may have a confidence level 525, which may be medium. Theconfidence level 525 may be medium, instead of being high as theconfidence level 523, because data 515 may be calculated based on asmaller number of data received by the external road surface conditiondata source during the time window 505. In some embodiments, theexternal road surface condition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 or thecloud 105, may use some historical data in the calculation of data 515.Accordingly, the confidence level 525 may be reduced from being high tobe medium.

Furthermore, before entering the road section 104 at time period 4, thevehicle 518 may receive data 517 from an external road surface conditiondata source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105. Data 517 may becalculated by the external road surface condition data source, e.g., theRSU 103 or the cloud 105, based on sensor data received from twovehicles driving through the road section 104 within a time window 507.Data 517 may have a confidence level 527, which may be low. Theconfidence level 517 may be low, instead of high for the confidencelevel 523, or medium for the confidence level 525, because data 517 maybe calculated based on an even smaller number, e.g., two, of datareceived by the external road surface condition data source within thetime window 507. In some embodiments, the external road surfacecondition data source, e.g., the RSU 103 may use some historical data inthe calculation of data 517. Accordingly, the confidence level 527 maybe reduced from medium to be low.

Similarly, before entering the road section 104 at time period 4, thevehicle 520 may receive data 519 from an external road surface conditiondata source, e.g., the RSU 103 or the cloud 105. Data 519 may becalculated by the external road surface condition data source, e.g., theRSU 103 or the cloud 105, based on sensor data received from twovehicles driving through the road section 104 within a time window 509.Data 519 may have a confidence level 529, which may be low, which may besimilar to the confidence level 527.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example computer device 600 that may be suitableas a device to practice selected aspects of the present disclosure. Thedevice 600 may be an example of the OBU 115, or the OBU 310, or acomputer device to implement the process 400 for an external roadsurface condition data source, as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, or FIG. 4. Asshown, the device 600 may include one or more processors 602, eachhaving one or more processor cores, or and optionally, a hardwareaccelerator 603 (which may be an ASIC or a FPGA). In alternateembodiments, the hardware accelerator 603 may be part of processor 602,or integrated together on a SOC. Additionally, the device 600 mayinclude a memory 604, which may be any one of a number of knownpersistent storage medium, and mass storage 606. In addition, the 600may include input/output devices 608. Furthermore, the device 600 mayinclude communication interfaces 610 and 614, a sensor interface 616,and a driving strategy unit 618, which may be an example of thecommunication interface 304, the sensor interface 302, and the drivingstrategy unit 306, as shown in FIG. 3. The elements may be coupled toeach other via system bus 612, which may represent one or more buses. Inthe case of multiple buses, they may be bridged by one or more busbridges (not shown).

Each of these elements may perform its conventional functions known inthe art. In particular, the memory 604 and/or the mass storage 606 maystore and host execution of programming instructions implementing theoperations associated with road surface friction based predictivedriving for CA/AD vehicles to be performed by an apparatus for CA/AD, asdescribed in connection with FIGS. 1-5, and/or other functions,collectively referred to as computational logic 622 that provides thecapability of the embodiments described in the current disclosure.

The various elements may be implemented by assembler instructionssupported by processor(s) 602 or high-level languages, such as, forexample, C, that can be compiled into such instructions. Operationsassociated with safety operations and configuration of safety operationsnot implemented in software may be implemented in hardware, e.g., viahardware accelerator 603.

The number, capability and/or capacity of these elements 601-622 mayvary, depending on the number of other devices the device 600 isconfigured to support. Otherwise, the constitutions of elements 601-622are known, and accordingly will not be further described.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present disclosuremay be embodied as methods or computer program products. Accordingly,the present disclosure, in addition to being embodied in hardware asearlier described, may take the form of an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”

Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computerprogram product embodied in any tangible or non-transitory medium ofexpression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer-readable non-transitory storagemedium that may be suitable for use to store instructions that cause anapparatus, in response to execution of the instructions by theapparatus, to practice selected aspects of the present disclosure. Asshown, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 702 may include anumber of programming instructions 704. Programming instructions 704 maybe configured to enable a device, e.g., device 700 employed as an OBU ora RSU/cloud server, in response to execution of the programminginstructions, to perform, e.g., various corresponding operations in aCA/AD vehicle or a RSU/cloud server, associated with road surfacefriction based predictive driving for CA/AD vehicles, as shown in FIGS.1-5.

In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 704 may be disposedon multiple computer-readable non-transitory storage media 702 instead.In alternate embodiments, programming instructions 704 may be disposedon computer-readable transitory storage media 702, such as, signals. Anycombination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as thosesupporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device.Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even bepaper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, asthe program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited towireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentdisclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages, including an object oriented programming language such asJava, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely onthe remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user's computer through any type ofnetwork, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (forexample, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor ofthe computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, createmeans for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions. As used herein,“computer-implemented method” may refer to any method executed by one ormore processors, a computer system having one or more processors, amobile device such as a smartphone (which may include one or moreprocessors), a tablet, a laptop computer, a set-top box, a gamingconsole, and so forth.

Embodiments may be implemented as a computer process, a computing systemor as an article of manufacture such as a computer program product ofcomputer readable media. The computer program product may be a computerstorage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computerprogram instructions for executing a computer process.

The corresponding structures, material, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or steps plus function elements in the claims below are intendedto include any structure, material or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements are specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present disclosure has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the disclosure in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill without departingfrom the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The embodiment are chosenand described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosureand the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill inthe art to understand the disclosure for embodiments with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

Thus various example embodiments of the present disclosure have beendescribed including, but are not limited to:

Example 1 may include an apparatus for computer assisted or autonomousdriving (CA/AD), comprising: a sensor interface to receive, from one ormore sensors disposed on a CA/AD vehicle, sensor data indicative offriction between a road surface of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/ADvehicle; a communication interface to receive, from an external roadsurface condition data source via a wireless technology, data indicativeof friction for a surface of a road section ahead of the currentlocation of the CA/AD vehicle; and a driving strategy unit coupled tothe sensor interface and the communication interface to determine, basedat least in part on the sensor data and the data received from theexternal road surface condition data source, a driving strategy for theCA/AD vehicle beyond the current location of the CA/AD vehicle.

Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein the data indicative of the friction for thesurface of the road section ahead of the vehicle is based on friction ofthe road section experienced by multiple other vehicles, reported to theexternal road surface condition data source over a period of time.

Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2 and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein the data indicative of the friction for thesurface of the road section ahead of the vehicle is based on an averageof the friction of the road section experienced by multiple othervehicles, reported to the external road surface condition data sourceover the period of time.

Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein to determine the driving strategy, the drivingstrategy unit is to determine: an adjustment of a position of the CA/ADvehicle relative to a driving lane; an adjustment of a speed of theCA/AD vehicle; an adjustment of an inter-vehicle distance of the CA/ADvehicle with another vehicle; an adjustment of a position with a lane oracross lanes for the CA/AD vehicle; an adjustment of a choice of a laneamong multiple lanes for the CA/AD vehicle; an adjustment of a degree ofa turn to make for the CA/AD vehicle; an adjustment of an activesuspension to tilt the CA/AD vehicle; or an alteration of a trajectoryof the CA/AD vehicle.

Example 5 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein performance of the driving strategyby the CA/AD vehicle is to commence immediately, beginning from thecurrent location.

Example 6 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein commencement of performance of thedriving strategy by the CA/AD vehicle is to be delayed until the CA/ADvehicle is at less than a distance before the road section ahead of thecurrent location of the CA/AD vehicle.

Example 7 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein performance of the driving strategyby the CA/AD vehicle is to commence when the CA/AD vehicle is on theroad section ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle.

Example 8 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the wireless technology includes aselected one of dedicated short range communications (DSRC) technology,Bluetooth technology, wireless fidelity (WiFi) technology, wirelesslocal network (WLAN), cellular wireless network technology, or shortrange radio technology.

Example 9 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the communication interface is toreceive the data indicative of the friction for the surface of the roadsection ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle from aroadside unit (RSU) via broadcast.

Example 10 may include the apparatus of example 9 and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein the RSU is a selected one of a road embeddedreflector, a smart street or traffic light, a road side tag, an evolvednode B (eNB) type RSU, or a stationary user equipment (UE) type RSU.

Example 11 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the communication interface is toreceive the data indicative of the friction for the surface of the roadsection ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle from anapplication server or a cloud server.

Example 12 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the road section ahead of thecurrent location of the CA/AD vehicle is within a range of about 0.5meter to about 1000 meters ahead of the current location of the CA/ADvehicle.

Example 13 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the communication interface isfurther to receive a confidence level about the data indicative of thefriction for the surface of the road section ahead of the currentlocation of the CA/AD vehicle, and the driving strategy unit is tofurther determine the driving strategy for the CA/AD vehicle beyond thecurrent location, based on the confidence level.

Example 14 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the communication interface isfurther to receive a driving policy for the CA/AD vehicle beyond thecurrent location, and the driving strategy unit is to further determinethe driving strategy, based on the received driving policy.

Example 15 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein to determine the driving strategy,the driving strategy unit is to determine whether an abnormal conditionof the CA/AD vehicle occurred, based at least in part on the sensor dataand the data received from the external road surface condition datasource.

Example 16 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the communication interface isfurther to communicate, to the external road surface condition datasource, the sensor data.

Example 17 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the apparatus is a vehicle onboardunit (OBU) disposed in the CA/AD vehicle.

Example 18 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 1-4 and/orsome other examples herein, wherein the apparatus is the CA/AD vehiclecomprising the one or more tires, the one or more sensors, and a vehicleonboard unit (OBU) having the sensor interface, the communicationinterface, and the driving strategy unit.

Example 19 may include a method for computer assisted or autonomousdriving (CA/AD), performed by a road surface condition data source,comprising: receiving, via a wireless technology, an indication offriction between a road surface of a first location where a first CA/ADvehicle is in and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the firstCA/AD vehicle, wherein the first location is located in a road section;processing the received indication of the friction at the first locationfor the first CA/AD vehicle to generate an indication of a friction fora surface of the road section; and communicating to a second CA/ADvehicle at a second location the generated indication of the frictionfor the surface of the road section, wherein the second location isseparated from the road section by a distance along a road drivingdirection.

Example 20 may include the method of example 19 and/or some otherexamples herein, further comprising: generating a confidence level aboutthe indication of the friction for the surface of the road section; andcommunicating to the second vehicle the generated confidence level.

Example 21 may include the method of any one of examples 19-20 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: generating a drivingpolicy for the road section based on the indication of the friction forthe surface of the road section; and communicating to the second vehiclethe driving policy.

Example 22 may include the method of any one of examples 19-20 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: notifying an authorityof maintenance conditions based on the indication of the friction forthe surface of the road section.

Example 23 may include the method of any one of examples 19-20 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: receiving an indicationof a friction between a road surface of the second location where thesecond vehicle is in and one or more surfaces of one or more tires ofthe second CA/AD vehicle.

Example 24 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions that cause a computer assisted orautonomous driving (CA/AD) system in a CA/AD vehicle, in response toexecution of the instructions by the CA/AD system, to: obtain, from oneor more sensors disposed on the CA/AD vehicle, sensor data indicative offriction between a road surface of a current location of the CA/ADvehicle and one or more surfaces of one or more tires of the CA/ADvehicle; obtain, from an external road surface condition data source viaa wireless technology, data indicative of friction for a surface of aroad section ahead of the current location of the CA/AD vehicle; anddetermine, based at least in part on the sensor data and the datareceived from the external road surface condition data source, a drivingstrategy for the CA/AD vehicle beyond the current location of the CA/ADvehicle.

Example 25 may include the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 24, wherein the data indicative of the friction for thesurface of the road section ahead of the vehicle is based on friction ofthe road section experienced by multiple other vehicles, reported to theexternal road surface condition data source over a period of time.

Example 26 may include an apparatus for computer assisted or autonomousdriving (CA/AD), comprising: means for receiving, via a wirelesstechnology, an indication of friction between a road surface of a firstlocation where a first CA/AD vehicle is in and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the first CA/AD vehicle, wherein the first locationis located in a road section; means for processing the receivedindication of the friction at the first location for the first CA/ADvehicle to generate an indication of a friction for a surface of theroad section; and means for communicating to a second CA/AD vehicle at asecond location the generated indication of the friction for the surfaceof the road section, wherein the second location is separated from theroad section by a distance along a road driving direction.

Example 27 may include the apparatus of example 26 and/or some otherexamples herein, further comprising: means for generating a confidencelevel about the indication of the friction for the surface of the roadsection; and means for communicating to the second vehicle the generatedconfidence level.

Example 28 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 26-27 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: means for generating adriving policy for the road section based on the indication of thefriction for the surface of the road section; and means forcommunicating to the second vehicle the driving policy.

Example 29 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 26-27 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: means for notifying anauthority of maintenance conditions based on the indication of thefriction for the surface of the road section.

Example 30 may include the apparatus of any one of examples 26-27 and/orsome other examples herein, further comprising: means for receiving anindication of a friction between a road surface of the second locationwhere the second vehicle is in and one or more surfaces of one or moretires of the second CA/AD vehicle.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described hereinfor purposes of description this application is intended to cover anyadaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein.Therefore, it is manifestly intended that embodiments described hereinbe limited only by the claims.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. An apparatus for computer assisted or autonomousdriving, comprising: a sensor interface to receive, from one or moresensors disposed at a vehicle, vehicle data indicative of frictionbetween a road surface of a current location of the vehicle and one ormore surfaces of one or more wheels of the vehicle; a communicationinterface to receive, from an external data source via a wirelesstechnology, data indicative of friction for a surface of a road sectionahead of the current location of the vehicle; and a driving strategydeterminer coupled to the sensor interface and the communicationinterface to determine, based at least in part on the sensor data andthe data received from the external data source, a driving strategy forthe vehicle, wherein the driving strategy includes an adjustment of achoice of a lane among multiple lanes for the vehicle.
 27. The apparatusof claim 26, wherein the driving strategy further comprises: anadjustment of a position of the vehicle relative to a driving lane; anadjustment of an inter-vehicle distance of the vehicle with anothervehicle; or an adjustment of a position across lanes for the vehicle.28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the data indicative of thefriction for the surface of the road section ahead of the vehicle isbased on friction of the road section experienced by multiple othervehicles, reported to the external data source.
 29. The apparatus ofclaim 26, wherein the communication interface is to receive the dataindicative of the friction for the surface of the road section ahead ofthe current location of the vehicle from a cloud server.
 30. Theapparatus of claim 26, wherein the communication interface is further tocommunicate, to the external data source, the sensor data.
 31. Anapparatus for computer assisted or autonomous driving, comprising: firstmeans for receiving, from one or more sensors disposed at a vehicle,vehicle data indicative of friction between a road surface of a currentlocation of the vehicle and one or more surfaces of one or more wheelsof the vehicle; second means for receiving, from an external data sourcevia a wireless technology, data indicative of friction for a surface ofa road section ahead of the current location of the vehicle; and drivingstrategy means for determining, based at least in part on the sensordata and the data received from the external data source, a drivingstrategy for the vehicle, wherein the driving strategy includes anadjustment of a choice of a lane among multiple lanes for the vehicle.32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the driving strategy furthercomprises: an adjustment of a position of the vehicle relative to adriving lane; an adjustment of an inter-vehicle distance of the vehiclewith another vehicle; or an adjustment of a position across lanes forthe vehicle.
 33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the data indicativeof the friction for the surface of the road section ahead of the vehicleis based on friction of the road section experienced by multiple othervehicles, reported to the external data source.
 34. The apparatus ofclaim 31, wherein the second means for receiving receive the dataindicative of the friction for the surface of the road section ahead ofthe current location of the vehicle from a cloud server.
 35. Theapparatus of claim 31, further comprising: means for communicating thesensor data to the external data source.
 36. A method for computerassisted or autonomous driving, the method comprising: receiving, via awireless technology, an indication of friction between a road surface ofa first location where a first vehicle is in and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the first vehicle, wherein the first location islocated in a road section; processing the received indication of thefriction at the first location for the first vehicle to generate anindication of a friction for a surface of the road section; andcommunicating to a second CA/AD vehicle at a second location thegenerated indication of the friction for the surface of the roadsection, wherein the second location is separated from the road sectionby a distance along a road driving direction.
 37. The method of claim36, further comprising: receiving an indication of a friction between aroad surface of the second location where the second vehicle is in andone or more surfaces of one or more tires of the second CA/AD vehicle.38. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprisinginstructions that cause a computer system, in response to execution ofthe instructions by the computer system, to receive, via a wirelesstechnology, an indication of friction between a road surface of a firstlocation where a first CA/AD vehicle is in and one or more surfaces ofone or more tires of the first CA/AD vehicle, wherein the first locationis located in a road section; process the received indication of thefriction at the first location for the first CA/AD vehicle to generatean indication of a friction for a surface of the road section; andcommunicate to a second CA/AD vehicle at a second location the generatedindication of the friction for the surface of the road section, whereinthe second location is separated from the road section by a distancealong a road driving direction.
 39. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 38, the instructions further cause thecomputer system to: receive an indication of a friction between a roadsurface of the second location where the second vehicle is in and one ormore surfaces of one or more tires of the second CA/AD vehicle.
 40. Oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructionsthat cause a computer system, in response to execution of theinstructions by the computer system, to receive, from one or moresensors disposed at a vehicle, vehicle data indicative of frictionbetween a road surface of a current location of the vehicle and one ormore surfaces of one or more wheels of the vehicle; receive, from anexternal data source via a wireless technology, data indicative offriction for a surface of a road section ahead of the current locationof the vehicle; and determine, based at least in part on the sensor dataand the data received from the external data source, a driving strategyfor the vehicle, wherein the driving strategy includes an adjustment ofa choice of a lane among multiple lanes for the vehicle.
 41. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 40, wherein thedriving strategy further comprises: an adjustment of a position of thevehicle relative to a driving lane; an adjustment of an inter-vehicledistance of the vehicle with another vehicle; or an adjustment of aposition across lanes for the vehicle.
 42. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 40, wherein the dataindicative of the friction for the surface of the road section ahead ofthe vehicle is based on friction of the road section experienced bymultiple other vehicles, reported to the external data source.
 43. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 40, theinstructions further cause the computer system to: receive the dataindicative of the friction for the surface of the road section ahead ofthe current location of the vehicle from a cloud server.
 44. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 40, theinstructions further cause the computer system to: communicate thesensor data to the external data source.